Marketing and Sponsorship

Spanish bank Banesto, owned by Spanish bank Santander, will not continue its sponsorship deal with the Spanish national football team, which was originally scheduled to last until after the 2014 World Cup, according to José Félix Díaz of EL CONFIDENCIAL. Santander's directors fear that possible success by Spain in Brazil during the World Cup, a strategic country for the group's interests, "could jeopardize the commercial interests in the South American country." For these reasons, "the companies have already communicated to the Spanish national team that they will not continue with the sponsorship." The Spanish team will soon participate in the Confederations Cup, which will "serve as a showcase for the money-making machine that the team coached by Vicente Del Bosque has become." Sponsors "look for space at the side of the world champions." The sponsorship area that Banesto is leaving behind has a value of €4M ($5.3M), with several financing entities already considering the possibility of occupying this position (EL CONFIDENCIAL, 6/6).

The Swiss Football Federation (SFV), which will market the Swiss Cup competition on its own again starting on July 1, has signed a deal with the Swiss Würth Group as the competition's presenting partner. The company signed a contract with the SFV until June 30, 2016. The federation's marketing contract with IMG for the Swiss Cup competition will expire at the end of June after five years. Swiss public broadcaster SRG will air several games per competition round, which will also air live online on Football.ch and Cupplay.ch (SFV).

Under Armour Founder, President & CEO Kevin Plank and other company execs Wednesday during the company's Investor Day "detailed a three-year plan" to reach $4B in revenue by '16, representing "nearly double what the company expects to take in this year," according to Chris Korman of the Baltimore SUN. UA plans to achieve its revenue goals "through innovation, expanding the company's reach internationally and improving its ability to sell directly to customers." UA Int'l President Charlie Maurath "shared a broad plan to build infrastructure in key markets" leading up to '16. The company "plans to open four subsidiaries next year, including one in Brazil to capitalize" on the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. UA's int'l sales have been "slower than expected," as only 6% of its sales in '13 will come from "outside its home market." The company "aims to reach" 12% int'l sales by '16. Maurath said that he has "revamped leadership teams in Europe -- where the focus will be on the United Kingdom, Germany and France -- Asia and Latin America, and is leading an effort to move into Australia while evaluating opportunities in the Middle East." UA "plans to open 10 additional international offices this year, surpassing the number of offices it keeps in the United States" (Baltimore SUN, 6/6).

HOW TO CROSS THE POND: Plank appeared on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Wednesday alongside UA endorser Tom Brady, and CNBC's David Faber asked Plank, "What is the strategy to get your product to people in Europe?" Plank responded, "You better be local first." He added, "We’re not new to it. We've been in Japan since 1998, and we have a business that’s (worth) nearly $200 million last year and growing at a rate of 50 percent this year -- so we know that our brand translates. As we take on these other key markets and places like Brazil or what we've done in China -- we've been there for three or four years, we’ve got five or six stores open now -- and frankly we have a lot more in the pipeline. A lot of times you’re not going to find the great key wholesale partner, which emphasizes the reason that we need to have our own story, our own retail stores as well." CNBC's Simon Hobbs asked, "Why bother to pick this fight at the moment? ... You’re a great all-American brand, you've done great things in the United States. But could this really destroy a lot of equity value if you get it wrong abroad?” Plank: "We've been very successful in our own market but we’re not going to define what we do or don’t do based on going against anyone else. We’re going to be very focused on what Under Armour can do" ("Squawk on the Street," CNBC, 6/5).

Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) club Fraport Skyliners have extended their sponorship deal with private brewery Licher for another three seasons. The brewery has been a partner of the Frankfurt-based club for 15 years (Fraport Skyliners). ... Swedish golf clothing brand Abacus Sportswear signed an apparel aggreement with the European Senior Tour player Steen Tinning (Abacus Sportswear). ... Coca-Cola Nepal on Tuesday renewed a sponsorship deal for five years with All Nepal FA as the chief sponsor of the Coca-Cola Cup U16 Inter-school Football Tournament to be held across the nation. As the chief sponsor, Coca-Cola will provide at least Rs 4.5M ($500,000) annually (Nepal REPUBLICA, 6/4). ... Health services company Unimed Seguros "has signed up as a sponsor of the Brazil national team." Unimed Seguros struck the agreement with the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). The deal "will run for six years and covers all levels of the Brazil national team," including U15, U17, U20, U23 and women's team, as well as the senior men's team. Financial details "were not revealed" (SOCCEREX, 6/6). ... The LOC of the 2013 FIFA U20 World has agreed to "sponsorship deals with Aksa Jenerator and Hyundai ahead of the tournament's kick-off in Turkey on June 21." Generator manufacturer Aksa will be the official energy sponsor for the U20 World Cup and "has agreed to provide energy needs to the seven stadiums being used to host the tournament." As the official automotive partner of the U20 World Cup, Hyundai "will supply 112 vehicles to the LOC to be distributed between the seven host cities" (SOCCEREX, 6/6).